3 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, and 6 Days

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 2 months, 1 week, and 6 days old today. It has begun to feel more like winter here with cold days getting dark earlier and colder nights. I have to resort to flash photography on occasion, which I try to avoid at all costs. They are just getting over another cold. I have a feeling that now that they are in school, sickness is going to be a part of our lives a lot more. Here's to building up their immunity! Enjoy the photos!

On the only day they were able to go outside last week, they blew bubbles at the plants:

Blowing bubbles:

Working on a project that gave them access to their own bottle of Elmer's glue:

They were very excited to glue pompoms on paper:

The finished projects:

Our Thanksgiving feast of 2011 (I was in the kitchen most of the day to create this - harvest pumpkin pie, slow cooker mashed potatoes, turkey, sweet potato biscuits, and corn casserole):

Charlotte liked the mashed potatoes the best:

Ruby still loves the sweet potato biscuits:

They both loved the pie this year:

Bob let them play a video game for the first time called Ms. 'Splosion Man on the Xbox (and by play, I mean they pressed random buttons and mostly jumped in one spot on the game):

3 Years, 2 Months, and 6 Days

Charlotte & Ruby are 3 years, 2 months, and 6 days old today. Inside activities are becoming the norm now that the colder weather is beginning to dominate the unseasonably warm temperatures we had been enjoying. I work a lot more at the bookstore lately, nearly full time, and Grandpa Jay gets to care for Charlotte & Ruby in my absence. Enjoy the photos!

Painting is always a welcomed activity:

They are quite happy with a paintbrush in hand:

Magnatiles continue to entertain them, becoming houses, towers, food, and whatever else they choose:

They discovered that they can get their own water now:

Outtakes from their 38 month old shoot:

38 Months Old!

Charlotte at 38 months old:

Ruby at 38 months old:

3 Years, 1 Month, 4 Weeks, and 2 Days

Ruby & Charlotte are 3 years, 1 month, 4 weeks, and 2 days old today. We have been stuck inside due to weather conditions more often, much to the dismay of Ruby & Charlotte. We take advantage of any time that is decent enough to be outside since they love the outdoors so much. I hope that playing in the snow goes much better this year for that reason. I volunteered to take their school photos this year, as the company that the school deals with does not work on weekends. It went surprisingly well with the kids (all 2 1/2 to early 3 year olds) despite me being a novice to this type of photography. I participate and help with their class as much as possible, as I want to be involved with their school lives too. Enjoy the photos!

1st school photos, November 2011:

Their pre-preschool class:

An outtake from Ruby's school pictures:

Bob and Grandpa Jay took them to a new park on an unseasonably warm day (upper 50s) while I was at work and Charlotte loved the seesaw:

Ruby pushes Bob on the swing:

Charlotte was quite happy and proud that she made it to the top of the rope ladder (with Bob's assistance):

Watching the 1st flurries of the season (nothing stuck, and it only lasted a few minutes):

Looking at a book together:

One of the last days that they were sick:

Building a wall on top of the shelf one evening before dinner:

3 Years, 1 Month, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Ruby & Charlotte are 3 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, and 2 days old today. They are just getting over their first cold of the season, so we have not done much the past week. They even missed a day of school on Saturday because of the cold. Enjoy the photos!

Outside one day when it warmed up to 62°:

Ruby said "It is a beautiful, windy day!" many times, and it was:

Charlotte:

Sticks are still the first things they look for when we go outside:

Charlotte pokes a beetle gently with her stick:

Ava & Ruby playing with the castle:

Coloring their initials with Ava:

3 Years, 1 Month, 2 Weeks, and 2 Days

Ruby & Charlotte are 3 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, and 2 days old today. We celebrated Halloween with a class party and then trick-or-treating yesterday afternoon (out here, trick-or-treating starts at 3pm). This year, Ruby picked out a blue monster and Charlotte chose a green dragon for their costumes about 3 weeks ago. But when it came time to actually dress up, they happily switched. Enjoy the photos!

In their costumes for Halloween 2011:

Roaring like a monster and dragon do:

We went trick-or-treating with Ava (an astronaut) & Jacob (a cow) in their neighborhood, since ours is always deserted:

They set off excited to be trick-or-treating, following Ava's lead (but were only interested for the first block, then were more intrigued by trying to take rocks & sticks from people's yards and asking when we were getting to the park):

At the first house, Ruby stood and watched from afar when it came time to go up to the door:

Once she saw that they were getting candy, she moved a bit closer:

In the end, Grandpa Jay had to get the candy and drop it in her pumpkin bucket:

But by the 4th house, Ruby was up on the porch waiting with Charlotte & Ava:

Charlotte paused often to sort through fallen leaves, pebbles, and dried pine needles:

Once we got home, they dumped out their rewards for going trick-or-treating (which also included a few leaves, a rock, and a small stick they snuck in with all the candy):

Since we are new to this going to school thing, I was unaware that you (the parent) are supposed to make favor bags for class parties, so I scrambled and came up with an idea that only took about 2 1/2 hours of my time with Bob's help:

Marshmallow ghost bags, laminated bat name tags (I now want to laminate everything, that machine is so great), and wooden pinwheels in Halloween colors. Ruby and Charlotte wanted their ghost bags to be scary, but we did the rest with happy faces:

At the party, one of the activities was to paint and decorate little pumpkins with Bob's help, which they both did not want to stop:

After class each Saturday, they love to go and wander along the Fox River:

Mainly so they can throw sticks in and watch them float away:

This is the first year that they tried candy, and we gave them lollipops to start with. They were interested in them for the first few licks, but then decided that the pinwheels and pencils they got were better: